Darren Adam Heitner, Esq. is the Founder of HEITNER LEGAL, Founder/CEO of Dynasty Dealings, LLC, Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University Bloomington, Co-Founder of Collegiate Sports Advisors (CSA) and Founder/Chief Editor of Sports Agent Blog, a leading niche industry publication. He is an attorney licensed to practice on the state and federal level, and focuses on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property litigation and transactional work.
Darren is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know (published by the American Bar Association), Contributing Writer of An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5th Edition, and has authored many sports, entertainment and intellectual property-related Law Journal articles.
Darren has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the same institution.

New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony Tops LeBron James For Most Popular NBA Jersey

Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks earn the top spot of the Most Popular NBA Jerseys and Most Popular Team Merchandise lists, respectively. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

There is roughly a week left in the 2012-13 NBA season, and little doubt that LeBron James of the Miami Heat will be handed his fourth Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. It will be his fourth award in the previous five years. While James was busy racking up MVP trophies, he was also often sitting at the top of the NBA’s annual top-selling jerseys list, which ranks the top fifteen most popular NBA jerseys and top ten most popular team merchandise based on combined sales at the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue and NBAStore.com from November 2012 to present. James has topped the list a total of four times in the past. However, this year’s title goes to New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who is currently the NBA’s leading scorer on the court.

This marks the first time that Carmelo Anthony has led all NBA jersey sales since entering the league in 2003. His rise to the top of the rankings should come with little surprise. It coincides with the reformation of a New York Knicks team that currently sits in the second spot in the Eastern Conference and is riding a twelve game winning streak after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 125-120 on April 7 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The combination of the Knicks’ success on-and-off the court (the New York Knicks also own the top spot in the Top 10 Most Popular Team Merchandise category) with the fact that New York is one of the most marketable cities on the planet has given Anthony the platform any athlete craves in order to take his brand to the next level.

“To me, there is no greater indication of an athlete’s marketability than his ability to sell jerseys,” said Ashley Kerns, Founder of Kerns Marketing & Management, LLC to FORBES. ”When a fan buys a jersey, that person is saying ‘I believe in this players’ personal brand’. With fans believing, I’d expect sponsors to follow.” Kerns also noted that high jersey sales does not necessarily equate to someone being the best player in the league (i.e. Tebow), but tends to be a good indication of who fans want to represent. That is a good sign for existing sponsors of Anthony, including Jordan Brand, PowerCoco sports drink, supplement Isotonix Champion Blend Plus and Degree deodorant, and any companies that wish to align themselves with Carmelo in the future.

While Anthony will not receive an “award” for his achievement of knocking LeBron James off of his throne, having the most popular jersey probably has some special significance for Carmelo and the New York Knicks, beyond what it may do for Carmelo in the brand building department. It marks the first time that a Knicks player has held the No. 1 spot on the NBA’s top-selling jerseys list since the list was first established during the 2001-02 NBA season. But as any New York Knicks player and team executive will say, nothing matters more than winning a championship.

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